Looking Back at 2021
2021 has been a year of progression and change at LIFT Academy. From new testing methods for evaluating potential students to additional support staff roles to assist LIFT students to new partnerships with Cape Air, Stanly County Airport and more, 2021 has been a busy year. Join us as we look back on 2021 and look forward to what’s to come in 2022.
Our Flight Operations team welcomed new Training Advisors to its team to provide daily monitoring and oversight of students’ progress through LIFT’s flight training program. These team members will be the primary contact for students and will oversee regular checkups, retraining when needed, and will work one on one with students throughout their time at LIFT.
We launched a strategic workforce development relationship with Cape Air (more information on the Cape Air program here). This gives our students an additional option for flight time building. Previously, our students were able to time build at LIFT Academy working as Certificated Flight Instructors (CFIs). Now they have the opportunity to interview with Cape Air to become a First Officer with their airline, gaining valuable PIC time, or become a CFI at LIFT.
As the demand for pilots at Republic Airways has increased, we have been proud to see LIFT students who have graduated our program and finished time building to 1,500 hours transition to Republic Airways . Since May 2021, over 30 LIFT pilots have become Republic Airways First Officers.
While COVID-19 interrupted our traditional recruitment methods, we were also excited to resume onsite events such as our LIFT Fly By Summer Camp and LIFT OFF Females who Fly Girls in Aviation Day event along with visits to schools, career fairs and STEM events across the country. Our recruitment team is already building its event calendar for 2022, so if you know of an event where you’d like to see LIFT, send an email to explore@flywithlift.com to let them know!
We are proud of these accomplishments and many more that have happened at LIFT this year. We’re filling classes for 2022 now, so don’t delay your opportunity to #flywithLIFT and join all the fun we have ready for the new year!
LIFT by the numbers 2021
- 212 students enrolled
- 12 new classes onboarded
- Over 30,000 hours flown by our students
- 553 course graduations
- 9 students at Cape Air since November 2021
- Since May, 37 students began flying at Republic
